Monday, 26 April 2010

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

A friend of mine has been a professional business adviser for longer than he cares to remember (yep he get letters from Saga) but recently he mentioned that of late,he has never known so much adverse reaction from business owners towards dear old Business Link.

Since they re-invented themselves to be a “signposting” organisation in 2007, I really do not know what useful purpose they serve?

Even when I talk to accountants and bank managers about Business Link, their eyes roll upwards and they bite their lips for fear of uttering an unprofessional oath or three!

Not surprising really, I’ve tried to phone Business Link to get some information for a client; but because I am not the client, they won’t talk to me! When I have met and been given a business card from a Business Link manager and sent them an e-mail, I never get a reply – unless its “I am out of the office now until 17 December. If your message is important, please call the main switchboard at 08400 650202”. So you phone the switchboard they put you through to their extension and the voice mail says “Freda Bloggs is out of the office/away from her desk please leave a message and I will contact you on my return.” You wouldn’t, no couldn’t run a business like it!

I don’t think it’s the fault of the Business Link advisers that go out and meet the SME’s; more that their bosses are completely out of touch with what happens in the “real” economy. These public servants don’t seem to realise that they owe their jobs to the private sector, the real wealth creators, the ones who will pay taxes to keep these hangers on in “gainful” employment.

This is a general malaise in our country at the moment, there are lots of “do gooders” but not many of them are doing much good. If the money spent on these public services were channelled into small businesses – through lower taxes lets say, those same businesses would become more competitive and be able to create real jobs. Or am I being too simplistic?????????